The ARIZONA ADVENTURE

It’s a new track, and we’re all excited. Some of us have watched video, some have even done sim racing on the track’s 2.32-mile configuration. But nobody has actually seen it before. The only problem is it’s in Casa Grande, Arizona, which turns out to be a 9-hour tow from home for me, starting in rush hour on Thursday from the West Side of LA and driving on I-10 through the night completely surrounded by big rigs. Fear and Loathing, anyone? Arriving at 3 AM, I get lost briefly on the dirt road leading to the track, and when I finally reach the gate, it’s locked of course. I sleep in the bed of my pickup for three hours until they open up at 6 AM, and after I pay my entrance fee and rumble to the paddock, I discover that one of my four trailer tires is completely shredded. I persuade myself that the puncture occurred near the end of the drive.

At 7 AM, after unloading, teching, and registering my car, I somehow stumble into the drivers meeting on time. By 9:15 I’m driving my first session of the weekend, trying to unscramble the 15 turns and commit them to memory. Let’s see, brake a lot later than you thought after you go over the hill into Turn 1, start very wide and apex late into the decreasing radius of Turn 2, and by all means get left immediately to set up for Turn 3. I’m constantly asking myself, should I be in second gear or third here? Third or fourth there? But what if I’m going to be downshifting again right away? Which ess is which? And sorry about blowing the checkered flag--I was just following the guy in front of me and didn’t see the exit right after the last turn. All I can say is, thank goodness for five sessions of practice on Friday.

The Podium Club, which caters to private members, is billed as “Arizona’s only permanently-zoned-for-racing motorsports complex,” and while there isn’t much more than a racetrack there now, the master plan calls for private garages, condos, and much like Spring Mtn, multiple track configurations. But wait, there’s more. Luxury homes, a hotel, an industrial park, and yes, even a private airstrip and hangars are on the horizon.

54 POC drivers turned up to race at Podium Club. And the mid-April weather couldn’t have been better: blue skies with temps in the high 70s and low 80s.

I asked POC President John Momeyer why the club had decided to book an event at Podium Club. “If they build it, we will come,” he replied. Knowing that it would be difficult for the POC membership to show up in huge numbers, the Board partnered with an Arizona PCA chapter to share the three-day track costs. PCA produced 70 drivers. Because we were sharing, we had to give up sessions normally reserved for our Time Trialers and PDS Drivers. Thus, we had only Red and Orange Cup racers at Podium Club. Still, we had a turnout of 54 POC drivers. To sweeten our visit, the Porsche dealership in nearby Chandler offered everybody free breakfast and lunch on Saturday. And the mid-April weather couldn’t have been better: blue skies with temps in the high 70s and low 80s.

The Orange races pitted two familiar rivals against one another, plus a panting pack of hunting hounds snapping at their heels. Anders Hainer, former pro driver, POC Driver of the Year, and reigning Boxster Spec champ (four years in a row, in fact), would be facing off against the upstart James McCloughlin, a 21-year-old junior finance major at Texas Christian University.

In qualifying for the first Orange race Saturday, Anders uncharacteristically came in fifth behind pole-sitter Nick Khilnani, Scott Craig, Chris Bason, and Joe Wiederholt. And James uncharacteristically qualified sixth. Riley Giacomazzi, a driver still in his teens, qualified seventh. Anders admires all these drivers. Indeed, all seven of them qualified within .9 second of one another. But Anders is used to being on pole. He said his car just didn’t feel right. He couldn’t get it to stick. As he put it, “Either my car wasn’t set up exactly right, or I ran out of talent.” In any case, he made a few suspension adjustments before the race. The start of the Orange race was a mess. Momeyer declared, “It was the worst start I’ve ever seen.” One of the drivers up front—who shall remain nameless—swerved way wide to the left long before the green flag came out, then jumped the green flag itself by a couple of seconds. Realizing his mistake apparently, he then slowed back into his original position. Other drivers reacted in confusion as the pack thundered down the first straight and over the blind hill five wide into the fast Turn 1 lefthander. The race was not black flagged at that point, perhaps because there was no carnage and everyone more or less retained their original positions.

James went on the attack immediately. Going through Turn 1 he noticed that Anders’ car on his inside looked unsettled, and he decided to pounce. He got a nice line going through the decreasing-radius Turn 2, and set himself up for a successful pass coming out of Turn 3. Once past Anders, he began picking off the other leaders. A few laps later, a couple of cars had major offs, and dirt and gravel were flying everywhere. Andrew Weyman described his dread as he approached: “Driving into the dust cloud was like being sucked into a sand storm. Brake lights were obscured by the cloud, and I steered to the left to avoid rear ending the car in front of me that I couldn’t see. I came to a full stop and then found my way back to the racing line.” Luckily, Andrew didn’t get rear ended. Someone’s bumper wound up on the track, and this time the race was black flagged and restarted in single file. After the restart, James had to get by Riley, who had slipped ahead of him, and then Scott Craig. By this time James had realized that the inside line in Turn 1 was the fast line, and he claimed it as the three drivers went around the corner three-wide.

Now James was in the lead, but Anders was still a factor. Anders discovered that his car had begun to perform much better, and he worked his way through the pack thoroughly enjoying himself. Anders told me, “It’s much more fun—and less stressful--to chase than be chased.”

Soon Anders was glued to James’ tail, but try as he might, he couldn’t get by him. Anders said James drove really well—and quite defensively. “He’s just a natural. We’ve been going back and forth for two or three seasons now, and he’s learning from my defensive driving. Maybe I shouldn’t have shown him my moves.” Neither driver flinched, and James crossed the finish line a scant .244 second ahead of Anders. Scott Craig ran a consistent race and held the third position, just 2.752 seconds back.

James, who grew up in Carlsbad, caught the racing bug in eighth grade when his dad Jim sent him to kart racing school at Sonoma for a weekend. Years later Jim joined the POC with a Spec Boxster and went through the entire POC instruction process, from PDS to Time Trial to Cup School. James loved attending POC events, and six months later he too had a Spec Boxster. He zipped through the tutelage program and came out blazing. He told me, “I discovered that I enjoy perfecting the skills required of a race car driver, and I relish the special feeling I get when driving at speed through corners side by side with other cars.” He also developed a strong taste for winning races, and by age 19 he was already challenging Anders for top dog in Boxster Spec. James attributes his competitive drive to his high school years when he participated on both the surfing and lacrosse teams.

For the second Orange race on Saturday, the grid was determined by the drivers’ fastest laps in race one. The front cars were essentially the same group that had headed the grid in the first race, with a little reshuffling. Anders was now on pole, having turned a 1:47.675 in the race. James started in second position, followed by Chris, Riley, Nick, and Scott. Both Anders and James pushed as hard as they could the entire race, but fortune favored Anders this time. Once the green flag dropped, Anders grabbed the inside line in Turn 1, and James never had a chance to pass him. In the final laps he thought he might have an opportunity, but he got stalled lapping GT5 and GT7 cars that Anders negotiated more cleanly. Anders maintained his car-length lead and finished 2.967 seconds ahead of James. Chris Bason finished third, nine seconds back, followed by Scott, Nick, and Riley.

On Sunday, Anders again qualified on pole, turning the fastest Boxster lap of the weekend: 1:45.625. Scott qualified second just ahead of James, with the usual suspects Nick and Chris right behind them. In the first lap, James wasted no time in going after Scott. As Anders pulled ahead on the inside of Turn 1, James freighttrained behind him, more or less easing Scott outside. Emerging from Turn 1, James was ahead of Scott, and now he found himself once again chasing Anders for the victory. As James put it, “We were racing at the absolute threshold of our tires. It was very tight.”

Anders remarked that racing with James was so tight that “There was just a hair between our mirrors. They might have touched.” Both drivers professed great respect for and trust in one another’s judgment and skill. Those factors enable them to race so close and have a blast.

In the end, Anders prevailed. In a repeat of the circumstances of the previous race, Anders got away while lapping the slower cars in the final laps. He beat James by 1.403 seconds. Nick, who hung close throughout the race, took the third step on the podium, finishing less than half a second behind James. Again illustrating the closeness in the Boxster Spec field, Chris finished less than half a second behind Nick, with Riley just a second and a half behind Chris.

GT5 had three competitors in the three Orange races. Don Kravig edged Neal Rouzier by 2.7 seconds in the first race. Don beat Neal again in the second race by a wide margin. However, Neal got the last laugh, shading Don by a mere 1.25 seconds in race three. In the sparse two-car GT7 class, all three races were won by Randy Bergum over Glenwood Gum. In Carrera Spec the lone driver Doug Volder finished—and thus won—the three races in his class.

Each of the weekend’s Red races had split qualifying sessions; one for GT1 and GT2 cars, the other for GT3 and GT4 cars. Mike Monsalve, two-time Driver of the Year and reigning GT1 champ, qualified on pole for the 11-car GT1 and GT2 start with a remarkable 1:29.239. Loren Beggs, who qualified second, only managed to get one hot lap in before his brand new right front tire went flat. Alexandra Hainer, who is always in the mix for a podium finish, qualified third.

In the Red GT3/GT4 qualifying session, Duane Selby, who had won the last six races in a row, took pole with a 1:35.492 in his GT3-class car. Brett Gaviglio, enjoying the heck out of his new-to-him 996 Cup car with fascinating mods including a turbo, paddle shifters, and enormous wing qualified second in 1:36.053. “You know what they say about big wings,” Brett cracked. Reigning GT3 champ

Eben Benade qualified less than .2 second slower than Brett. Brad Keegan blew his motor in qualifying.

As is customary, the Red race itself was staged in separate starts, with the GT1/GT2 cars heading out about ten seconds earlier than the GT3/GT4 cars. To cut to the chase, Mike led throughout the race with his usual brilliant consistency, and he won by 8.5 seconds.

Loren, who had replaced his front right tire with a used one for the race, suddenly discovered that his front left tire had gone flat--in the first lap! He was able to retire from the race safely—but both of his new front tires had been destroyed. Meanwhile, Alexandra took second place in GT1, barely holding off Dan Aspesi who finished a half second behind her.

The first GT2 finisher was Ana Predescu who beat family friend Razvan Sporea by .3 second. Bryan Van Noy placed a distant third in GT2. Ana, who drives a 997.2 Cup car, formerly owned a 997.1 Cup car and competed in GT3 class. She really liked the class. However, an incident she had during a practice session at COTA resulted in her having to switch cars and trade up to a 997.2, after not being able to find an equal replacement. The new car boosted her to GT2 class and presented challenges for her in Saturday’s race. In lap two she suddenly felt like she had lost grip on all right-hand turns. “The car would understeer, then snap oversteer,” she told me. “And the dash gauge flashed a water temperature warning.”

Ana’s dad Vali told her on the radio that he saw a fine spray of water coming from the car. Something apparently had hit the radiator, causing a crack. She asked him what she should do.

“It’s your call,” he told her. She drove on. And won. Fortunately the crack was minor. “It was my hardest race yet,” she said, “because I could barely turn right. But I learned to adapt and held on.”

Ana, who graduated in 2021 from UC Riverside with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, has a very interesting job working for Virgin Galactic. In fact, right after the final race on Sunday, she had to drive out to Mojave to monitor a test flight. No, Richard Branson was not present.

In the GT3/GT4 portion of Saturday’s Red race, the starter flew the green flag a little late. Selby on pole had been rolling slowly as he led the pack up to start/finish. Brett had just upshifted to third gear when the flag came out, and his turbo had already kicked in. Fate had given him perfect timing. He poured on the heat and was able to beat Duane to the inside line on Turn 1. Brett managed to stay ahead of Duane throughout the race, sometimes by as much as five seconds. But Duane was always in touch, and he was able to make up time in the latter laps as the two threaded their way through slower and lapped traffic.

At one dramatic point, Peter Chiekowski spun directly in front of Brett. Brett told me afterwards, “I had to make an instant decision. I calculated that if I just continued going straight, Peter’s car would slide away to one side before I hit him. My gamble paid off, and I barely had to slow down.” Duane wasn’t quite so lucky, and he had to drive off track to avoid a collision with Peter. Impressively, though, Duane got right back on track with barely a hitch, and soon was dogging Brett again. In the last corner of the final lap, Brett and Duane had to dodge a damaging collision between GT4 drivers Tom Stone and Jim Steedman, which took both Tom and Jim’s cars out of the race. Duane eased up there, and Brett prevailed in GT3 class. James Buck took third.

Jim Salzer, who apparently also survived a little contact with Stone earlier in the race, held on to win in GT4. Lenny Loftin took second. Jim Steedman earned third place because two other GT4 drivers had completed fewer laps. Tom was DQd.

Before Sunday’s Red race Loren Beggs had a revelation. He figured out why he had gotten two flat front tires on Saturday. He had just purchased new aftermarket wheels and had them powdercoated black. He had practiced on scrub tires on older rims on Friday, but on Saturday he had used the new rims for the first time, with his sticker tires. The new front rims didn’t hold the tire bead under extreme g-forces and cold starting pressures of 19 PSI, probably because the powdercoating was too slick or thick.

The gentlemen’s agreement in Red racing is that nobody can use more than one set of new tires on a weekend. This agreement mercifully prevents us from spending $5,000 on tires each racing weekend (not that many of us would want to). So for Sunday qualifying, and for the race, Loren would run his scrub tires in front with the old rims, and in the rear he would have his almost new tires. Translation: He was going to have problems turning in with the older front tires, but with fresher rears than anybody else in the race, the rear grip would put the horsepower to work on the straights. It’s also worth mentioning that Loren had just purchased his race car, a 2021 992 GT3 Cup car and had only done one test day in it. He was still learning the systems, and he had yet to figure out how to hold the half-steering wheel without cramping his thumbs.

In GT1/GT2 qualifying, Monsalve took pole with the fastest lap of any car all weekend: 1:27.846. Loren qualified in the number two position, with a 1:28.678. Alexandra qualified third, a little more than a second behind Loren.

When the race began, Mike immediately commanded the lead. Alexandra quickly attacked Loren, passing him in the early laps as he tried to adjust to his unusual tire configuration. Alexandra stayed close to Mike and ahead of Loren for four laps, but eventually Loren was able to get by her and affix his nose to Mike’s tail for the next four or five laps. But Loren couldn’t get a run on Mike coming out of the last corner onto the front straight because he couldn’t get a good turn-in on that corner. Thus, he couldn’t pass Mike where he hoped to, on the inside in Turn 1. Not that Mike, a very crafty defensive driver, was going to give him anything easily, anyway.

But three quarters of the way through the race, Loren finally got those new rears to power him past Mike in the limited distance between Turns 3 and 4, and he held on for the overall win. The margin of victory is a little hard to discern because Loren’s rented transponder had run out of battery power by the end of the race. Alexandra took third place.

In GT2 class, Ana had qualified .4 seconds faster than Razvan, but she missed a shift during the race in the esses and briefly went off track. She recovered quickly, but Razvan was already past her, and he won by 3.6 seconds. Brian van Noy garnered third. In GT3/GT4 Sunday qualifying, Brett Gaviglio (who actually slipped out and qualified with the GT1/GT2 drivers), took pole position with a 1:34.376—the fastest GT3 lap of the weekend. He did it on his first and only hot lap. He never even got the tire pressures over 25 pounds. He knew he wouldn’t get any faster than that, so he immediately came into the pits to save his tires for the race. According to Brett, Duane Selby was already aware of Brett’s qualifying time when he went out to qualify with the next group. Duane stayed out the entire qualifying session trying to better Brett’s time, but he fell short by .68 second.

In the race, Brett decided to take the outside lane on pole, which he later admitted was a mistake, since it allowed Duane to get ahead of him on the inside in Turn 1. Brett also confessed that he erred leading the grid onto the front straight just before the race started. He felt he was going too fast, and he hadn’t left enough of a gap after the GT1/ GT2 racers. Indeed, as we came onto the straight, I saw the starter waving the green flag. I’m so far back in the pack I usually don’t even see the green flag. So when I saw it this time, I joyfully stomped on the accelerator, as did Scott Matz, who was gridded just ahead of me.

As I maneuvered around Scott and passed the whole field for the race lead, I was baffled as to why everyone else had slowed down. Then I noticed that the starter had tucked the green flag away. Our race had not yet officially started. Scott and I had jumped the start. As we passed the starter, he finally flew the green flag again. It was only after the race was over that I learned that the starter had kept the green flag out too long for the GT1/GT2 racers. That initial green we saw had not been intended for us. Nevertheless, I quite enjoyed leading the entire GT3/GT4 group for a few turns for once. But alas, Scott and I were blackflagged and had to do a stop-and-go in pit lane. Scott and I would finish the race two laps down.

Meanwhile, at the front of the pack, Duane led the race after Brett gifted him the inside position into Turn 1, and they had quite a battle for a while. In addition to being a superb driver, Duane has the widest car in the club, which provides him a lot of grip in the turns. But Brett’s car, according to Brett, has 25% more torque leaving a corner, and it has better grip due to the massive wing and exceptionally large tires. Brett managed to pass Duane around lap four with a nail-biting, late-brake inside pass in Turn 1, and he kept the lead all the way to the checkered flag. James Buck at some point squeezed ahead of Duane to take second place, and Duane wound up finishing third in GT3. The GT4 victory went to Jim Salzer again, followed by Lenny Loftin again. A hard-charging Mark Adams, who had recovered from an earlier off in the race, took third. Every driver I talked to said they loved this technical track, and they would return. Some raved about the flow, others about the good mix of straights and turns. The track is tight, they all agreed, but there are passing opportunities. Drivers also complimented the safety aspects of the track. The runoffs were wide and flat, the surface was billiard smooth, the curbing was consistent and not too high (to accommodate motorcyclists), and there was nothing to hit. Perhaps the best quote came from Brett Gaviglio: “Of course you like the track when you win on it.”

Negative comments were few. Some drivers told me they thought the track was slippery, especially in the afternoon, due to the relative newness of the asphalt or the fineness of the aggregate. Bill Tybur, the Director of Marketing at Podium Club, did tell me that the track currently has two layers of asphalt, known as “lifts.” A third lift will be added eventually, which could make a difference in grip.

I personally gasped when track management told me they were selling 100-octane gas for $18 a gallon. And there was unanimous agreement that it would have been quite nice to have running water and flush toilets. Hopefully those items will be given the highest priority in the grandiose master plan, and we will enjoy them on our next visit.